This will help you keep the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes straight in your head:
- MEN1: the number “1” in MEN1 should remind you of primary or prime number. MEN1 involves things that start with the letter P:
- Pituitary adenoma
- Parathyroid hyperplasia
- Pancreatic islet cell tumors (gastrinoma, insulinoma, glucagonoma)
- MEN2A: happens to involve the letter C (This is MEN2A, so there are two C’s in each item!):
- Calcitonin (medullary carcinoma of the thyroid with elevated calcitonin level)
- Calcium (parathyroid hyperplasia, which causes elevated calcium levels)
- Catecholamines which are made in the chromocytes (as in pheochromocytoma)
- Men 2B: B is for big (marfanoid habitus) and for belly problems (mucosal neuromas)
Here is a table to help drive home the key features of the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes:
Clinical presentation
- MEN1
- Hypercalcemia: brittle bones (fractures, due to osteoporosis), kidney stones, abdominal moans (abdominal pain), and psychiatric overtones (confusion).
- Treatment-resistant peptic ulcer disease (gastrinoma) or hypoglycemia (insulinoma).
- MEN2A
- Hypercalcemia: brittle bones (fractures, due to osteoporosis), kidney stones, abdominal moans (abdominal pain), and psychiatric overtones (confusion).
- Elevated catecholamines: severe, treatment-resistent hypertension (particularly paroxysmal in nature, with headaches, palpitations, and diaphoresis).
- MEN2B
- Marfanoid habitus
- Mucosal neuromas on lips, tongue and eyelids.
- Note that Abraham Lincoln was said (apocryphally?) to have been marfanoid, and he clearly was one of the great “men to be” (MEN2B)!
References
- Board Basics (2012, reviewed here)
- The Merck Manual for Health Care Professionals (accessed 6/9/2013)
- John G. Sotos MD (2008), The Physical Lincoln
Amazing mnemonics! Thank you because I have always found difficulty in remembering the constituents of each type! 🙂
I am glad that you found it helpful.
I think I made it up while in medical school. I then forgot the mnemonic, and somehow recalled it after a few months of intermittent effort. :-).
I’ve always gotten these confused and other mnemonics have always been too complicated. Thanks so much for your simple mnemonic! It’s so helpful.
I am glad it helped you!
I try to avoid memorizing complicated mnemonics. My philosophy is, if you end up needing to remember more as a consequence of the mnemonic, then you are doing it wrong!
Thankyou it is amazing to find it easy to be remembered now.
You’re very welcome. I am glad this helped!
Thnx..its gr8 help
You are very welcome. I’m glad this helped!
Wonderful!!!!
A great help in Endocrine.
Thanks, mate.
You are very welcome, Wilson. I am glad to help. I have yet to see one of these in clinical practice, but it show’s up on exams all the time!
Words can’t describe how truly appreciative I am of this. Thanks alot for sharing
You are very welcome, Bushra. I am really glad to help!
You have no idea how this has helped. Just couldn’t remember. Gracias! Merci! Dziekuje!
You are very welcome, Michele. I am so glad to have helped!
Mark, you are great!!
Thanks for the kind comment, Pranav. Always happy to help co-learners.
this is really helpful.. thanks a lot
I’m glad to help, Edmund. Best of luck!
Great mnemonic! Thanks! Just want to point out there’s a typo in your table for MEN2B. It says “MEN2A” in that third column.
You’re very welcome, and thank you so much for bringing the typo to my attention!
I just fixed it!
Thank u sir,for making MEN so easy:-D loved the mnemonic..
The mnemnic can help a lot during exam to reduce anxiety
I agree!
You are very welcome. I’m happy to help!
Multiple endocrine neoplasia was one of the very important topics in recent advance Pathology in 1985 when we were pg examinees . Thanks for reminding this interesting subject with the updates.
Thank you! This really helped a lot!